Clay working



Dec. 10, 1935. D. E. CHILD ET AL CLAY WORKING Filed April 25, 1934 Q l a W Jfl/ffi d *2 Patented Dec. 10, 1935 PATENT OFFICE our wonxmo D. Earl Child and James Leo Child, Findlay,

Ohio, assignors to The Hancock Brick & Tile Company, Findlay, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 25, 1934, Serial No. 722,388

4Clalms. (01.25-11) 'be produced, a single length formed by a plu-- invention relates to molding by supplying material for compacting. into a form.

This invention has utility when incorporated in the manufacture of clay or other plastic articles from batches.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view, with parts broken away, of an'embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 11-11, Fig. 1.

Conveyor i is shown for supplying clay to one end 2 of a pug mill having opening 3 through top 4 of said pug mill. Belt 5 may continuously rotate pulley S on shaft I having gear connection 8 with shaft 9 extending into the housing 4. On this shaft 9 are pug knives l0 and auger ll effective to temper and force a valve-forming solid mass of clay over cone l2 and through annular opening l3. Fixed to rotate with the shaft 9 is annular series of knives l4 mounted at'the cone I2 in chamber IS. The spill from this pug mill is thereby commlnuted or shaved off into fine particles to fall toward bottom It of the chamber l5 and there repose as a pile I! over scroll [8 as a conveyor mounted on shaft 19.

Continuously driving belt is effective through pulley 2|, gearing 22, to drive shaft 23. Control handle 24 may effect intermittent clutching in of the shaft section 19, thus allowing for manual control in the operation of the conveyor l8 at the interval when plunger 25 is elevated in the chamber l5. This plunger 25 has therefrom stem 26 through packed joint 21 and cylinder head 28 to piston 29 in cylinder 30.

Power supply 3| for steam ,may have flow thereof controlled by valve 32 for pressure to flow by line 33 into the lowerportion of the cylinder to effect lifting and holding, of the plunger 25. At this position of the valve 32 pressure fluid from upper head 34 of the cylinder 30 may flow by line 35 to the valve 32 and be exhausted from the back portion thereof. Reverse of the handle from toward the pipe 33 toward the pipe 35 connects the pipe 33 for exhausting back through the valve 32 while pressure fluid from the line 3| flows by the line 35 to the side 'of the piston 29 away from the plunger, thus to effect as a power stroke thrusting of the plunger 25 through opening 36 as an extruder from this transfer chamber l5, thereby causing the sub-atmospheric, treated, comminuted material to pass through a die having central portion 31 and ring 38jthereabout.

Tubular product 39 is thus extruded tobe received on a pallet and severed in desired lengths. By this disclosure,. any length may rality of full length or fractional strokes of the .plunger, the extrusion being a' continuous discharge, intermittently advanced thereby maintaining a valve-forming mass in the die. 5

The invention herein is for use in the prbduction of structural clay shapes but,more particularly adapted to produce large tile.

In the operation hereunder,- this clay of a 1" suitable character for burning and which may 10 be used for tile suitable for drainage, is herein formed in the treatment into lengths. of tile even 36 inches and upward in diameterwith walls 3 or more inches in thickness." There is thus produced a substantial clay product which 16 may be tempered and fired or burned in the hardening treatment to render such suitable for culvert or other work requiring a degree of strength. Due to this vacuum transfer or subatmospheric inter-delivery device between the 20 extruder and pug mill, there is a character of clay delivered to the extruder which is free from entrained gaseous matter, thus defeating at the treating, hardening, firing or burning stages, weakening-action from entrained gaseous ma- 25 terial expansion.

This transfer vacuum chamber is shown provided with window 40 above the comminuter and location for the pile I1, so that check of the performance may be had by the operator. Clean- 30 out 4|, adjacent the port or opening 36, provides accessible region in instances to remove material between periods of operation in the machine. Thus, the material maybe properly conditioned for delivery to the forming apparatus and if the 35 accumulation in the chamber i5 exceeds the delivery rate, then the batches are fed from thebottom of the pile H in such quantity as may be necessary for a charge as moved from the pile by the conveyor H3. The conveyor I8 is then shut off and the plunger operated for its cycle in descending into the port 36 to effect an extrusion and then to move clear of the port for allowing a re-opration of the scroll.

Pipe connection 42 to the chamber i 5 is ef- 45 fective in exhausting air from this chamber l5 and in practice is so effective that approximately 2''! inches of mercury is the measure of the vacuum obtained;

The operation may be timed I1 is delivered as a whole to the former as is each succeedingpile or the accumulations in the chamber I5 build up and batch delivery be from the bottom of the pile. In any instance, sumcient time elapses to insure a thorough de-aeraso that the pile 5o! tion of the clay and the comminutedclay isformed by compression before the plastic mass has any exposure to atmospheric pressure.

What is claimed and it is desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An extruder, a pug mill, and a sub-atmospheric pressure transfer therebetween including a chamber, acomminuter in the chamber for I acting upon pug mill discharge into the chamber,

a plunger in said chamber. intermittently operable for effecting extrusion from the chamber, a charger operative relatively to and independently of the plunger for shifting a charge into alignment with the plunger, and control means for cycle sequence between said charger and plunger. 2. Clay handling apparatus embodying a. we

mill having a discharge, clay comminuting means at said discharge, a chamber having a maintained substantial vacuum into which said comminuted clay is discharged to form an accumulation thereof for temporary storage, means intermittently segregating a batch of said clay in the chamber irom the bottom of the accumulation, clay forming means extending from the chamber, said intermittent means operable independently oi the comminuting means and the forming means, and means forcing said batch from the chamber through said forming means.

4. The method of preparing a blank for hardening treatment in continuous and intermittent stages including continuously pugging a supply of material, comminuting the puggedsupply, accumulating a pile of r the comminuted supply, subjecting said pile for a period of time to subatmospheric pressure, intermittently shifting a batch from the bottom of the pile to form a 20 charge, progressing said charge from the pile while still under sub-atmospheric pressure, and exposing the progressed charge to forming pressureby extrusion.

n. EARL CHILD. JAMES LEO CHILI). 

